Boris Johnson to find out today if he faces criminal investigation over Jennifer Arcuri relationship

Boris Johnson will find out on Thursday if a criminal investigation with be launched into his dealings with the US tech entrepreneur Jennifer Arcuri during his time as Mayor of London.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) will announce its decision at noon as to whether it will proceed with a probe into allegations the prime minister used his position while to benefit and reward Ms Arcuri.

The former model accompanied Mr Johnson on several trade missions while he was in City Hall, and it emerged last September that her companies received more than £100,000 in public money.

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Opposition parties have strongly criticised the police watchdog for delays over the decision whether to investigate “possible criminality”.

The IOPC strongly denied reports that it had postponed any announcement about the prime minister’s case until after the December general election.

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1/50 20 May 2020

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22/50 29 April 2020

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24/50 27 April 2020

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25/50 26 April 2020

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29/50 22 April 2020

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30/50 21 April 2020

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32/50 19 April 2020

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33/50 18 April 2020

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34/50 17 April 2020

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35/50 16 April 2020

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39/50 12 April 2020

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41/50 10 April 2020

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43/50 8 April 2020

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44/50 7 April 2020

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45/50 6 April 2020

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46/50 5 April 2020

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47/50 4 March 2020

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48/50 3 April 2020

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49/50 2 April 2020

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50/50 1 April 2020

Staff wearing PPE of gloves and face masks, as a preactionary measure against Covid-19, disinfect an ambulance after it arrived with a patient at St Thomas’ Hospital in north London

AFP via Getty

1/50 20 May 2020

People at Bournemouth beach in Dorset, as people flock to parks and beaches with lockdown measures eased. The Met Office has predicted the hottest day of the year

PA

2/50 19 May 2020

A dog jumps into the water as families relax at a Lido in London

AP

3/50 18 May 2020

A fan celebrates outside Celtic Park after Celtic were crowned champions of the Scottish Premiership. Hearts were also relegated after a decision was made to conclude the season with immediate effect

PA

4/50 17 May 2020

People on Brighton beach after the introduction of measures to bring the country out of lockdown

PA

5/50 16 May 2020

Police lead away Piers Corbyn, brother of former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, as protesters gather in breach of lockdown rules in Hyde Park in London after the introduction of measures to bring the country out of lockdown.

PA

6/50 15 May 2020

Estonian freelance ballet dancer and choreographer, Eve Mutso performs her daily fitness routine near her home in Glasgow, Scotland

Getty

7/50 14 May 2020

Senior charge nurse Jan Ferguson views artwork “Theatre of Dott’s” by Kate Ive, inspired by Professor Norman Dott and his neurosurgery theatres at the Western General from 1960-2019. It is one of a number of artworks which sit on the walls of NHS Lothians’ Department of Clinical Neurosciences (DCN) which has been transferred into a purpose-built new home on the Little France campus in Edinburgh

PA

8/50 13 May 2020

9/50 12 May 2020

Nurses from central London hospitals protest on international nurses day about the chronic underfunding of the NHS and other issues surrounding the health service outside the gates of Downing Street, London

PA

10/50 11 May 2020

Waves crash at Tynemouth pier on the North East coast

PA

11/50 10 May 2020

A woman passes street art and a poster in East London

Reuters

12/50 9 May 2020

Police patrol the beach in Brighton

Getty

13/50 8 May 2020

The British Royal Air Force Red Arrows conduct a fly past over the statue of former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in London to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of Victory in Europe (VE Day) in Britain

MOD/Reuters

14/50 7 May 2020

Team GB sailor Eilidh McIntyre during a training session at her home in Portsmouth

Reuters

15/50 6 May 2020

16/50 5 May 2020

The sun appears to explode over the horizon in this montage of images captured by photographer Nick Lucas near his home in Ringwood, Hampshire. Nick took a number of pictures just a few seconds apart on a tripod mounted camera which were then combined to give the eye catching dawn image

Nick Lucas/SWNS

17/50 4 May 2020

Leeds Green Watch firefighters observe a minute’s silence outside the fire station in Kirkstall Rd, in memory their colleagues that lost their lives in the line of duty

PA

18/50 3 May 2020

Staff at The Berkeley hotel give food to ambulance workers

Reuters

19/50 2 May 2020

One of a small group of anti-lockdown protesters speaks to a police officer as they gather outside New Scotland Yard in Victoria, London

AFP via Getty

20/50 1 May 2020

Bonnie the Llama grazes in a field in the Scottish Borders alongside a sign supporting the NHS as the UK continues in lockdown

PA

21/50 30 April 2020

Colonel Tom Moore and his daughter Hannah celebrate his 100th birthday, with an RAF flypast provided by a Spitfire and a Hurricane over his home in Marston Moretaine. Colonel Moore, formerly a Captain, received a promotion in honour of his birthday and in recognition of the funds, in excess of £30m, he raised for the NHS by walking laps of his garden

Capture the Light Photography/Getty

22/50 29 April 2020

Britain’s Labour leader Keir Starmer speaks during Prime Minister’s Questions, as members of Parliament observe social distancing due to the coronavirus, in the House of Commons, London, Wednesday, April 29, 2020

UK Parliament/AP

23/50 28 April 2020

NHS staff at the Mater hospital in Belfast, during a minute’s silence to pay tribute to the NHS staff and key workers who have died during the coronavirus outbreak

PA

24/50 27 April 2020

The sun rises behind redundant oil platforms moored in the Firth of Forth near Kirkcaldy, Fife. Global oil prices have crashed after the coronavirus pandemic reduced demand, with analysts warning that the oil majors may be looking at one of their biggest quarter-on-quarter profitability hits in history.

PA

25/50 26 April 2020

Frankie Lynch celebrates on the Mall where the finish of the London Marathon was due to take place today after running 2.6 miles instead of 26 miles to raise money for The Running Charity

Reuters

26/50 25 April 2020

A muslim woman walks past balloons outside the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in London

Reuters

27/50 24 April 2020

An empty Brighton Pier, closed during the Coronavirus pandemic as temperatures reach 20 degrees in the South East

Rex

28/50 23 April 2020

Farmers work with vehicles to prepare a field next to a field of flowering rapeseed near Pontefract, West Yorkshire

AFP/Getty

29/50 22 April 2020

The Northern Lights, the Milky Way and a Lyrid meteor at the Bathing House near Howick, Northumberland, as the Lyrid meteor shower reached its peak

PA

30/50 21 April 2020

Badger the Border Collie surrounded by bluebells at Shrawley Wood in Worcestershire

PA

31/50 20 April 2020

A dog walker on Blyth beach in Northumberland

PA

32/50 19 April 2020

A piece of coronavirus themed street art grafitti in East London

AFP via Getty

33/50 18 April 2020

Members of the City Specialist Cleaning team spray disinfectant around posts in the town centre of Eastleigh, Hampshire

PA

34/50 17 April 2020

A taped-up bench in the hamlet of Diglea, Greater Manchester

AFP/Getty

35/50 16 April 2020

A woman wearing a protective face mask and gloves walks past graffiti in Bow, London

Reuters

36/50 15 April 2020

A burned down mobile phone mast in London. According to reports, at least 20 mobile phone masts across Britain are believed to have been vandalised and government and telecom sources are increasingly concerned about the impact of conspiracy theories linking coronavirus to 5G networks

EPA

37/50 14 April 2020

The new Nightingale Hospital in Washington, Tyne and Wear, being fitted out

PA

38/50 13 April 2020

Walkers enjoy the bluebells in Wanstead Park in London

PA

39/50 12 April 2020

A woman prays at the closed doors of Westminster Cathedral ahead of the Easter morning mass in London

PA

40/50 11 April 2020

A man jogs on an empty beach in Scarborough as the UK continues in lockdown to help curb the spread of the coronavirus

PA

41/50 10 April 2020

Military personnel testing people at a coronavirus test centre in the car park of Chessington World of Adventures

Reuters

42/50 9 April 2020

Posters drawn by children displayed in support of the NHS in a building near St Thomas’ Hospital in London

Getty

43/50 8 April 2020

A street cleaner in front of Coronavirus messaging on Picadilly Circus in London

Getty

44/50 7 April 2020

A jogger on the Millennium Bridge in London, as the UK continues in lockdown to help curb the spread of the coronavirus

PA

45/50 6 April 2020

A Royal Signals soldier practices during training held by the British Army. They are preparing them to support the Welsh Ambulance Service NHS Trust in the battle against coronavirus

Ministry of Defence/Reuters

46/50 5 April 2020

A police officer advises a woman to go home after spotting her enjoying the sun in Primrose Hill, London

AP

47/50 4 March 2020

New Leader of the Labour Party Keir Starmer speaks on the announcement of his victory in the leadership race of the Labour Party

AFP via Getty

48/50 3 April 2020

Health Secretary Matt Hancock and NHS staff stand on marks on the ground, put in place to ensure social distancing guidelines are adhered to, at the opening of the NHS Nightingale Hospital at the ExCel centre in London, a temporary hospital with 4000 beds which has been set up for the treatment of Covid-19 patients. PA Photo. Picture date: Friday April 3, 2020. Split into more than 80 wards containing 42 beds each, the facility will be used to treat Covid-19 patients who have been transferred from other intensive care units across London.

PA

49/50 2 April 2020

A child at Westlands Primary School paints a poster in support of the NHS in Newcastle-under-Lyme

Reuters

50/50 1 April 2020

Staff wearing PPE of gloves and face masks, as a preactionary measure against Covid-19, disinfect an ambulance after it arrived with a patient at St Thomas’ Hospital in north London

AFP via Getty

Mr Johnson has insisted “everything was done entirely in the proper way” – while refusing to answer questions about whether he had a sexual relationship with the American when he was mayor.

She also complained it was always the woman who is criticised “when you have an affair with an older man”.

Whitehall’s internal audit agency £100,000 grant awarded to Ms Arcuri’s cyber-firm by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) was “appropriate” after it emerged the cyber firm was registered from an old rented flat in Macclesfield.

Ms Arcuri’s business reportedly received £10,000 in sponsorship cash from an organisation Mr Johnson was responsible for as London mayor in 2013.

It was the Greater London Authority that asked the IOPC to assess whether Mr Johnson should be formally investigated.